When evaluating filters that contain lexical operators, Integration Server uses the locale collating sequence specified on the Broker to compare the values of the strings. The behavior of lexical operators depends on whether a locale is set for the Broker. If no locale is specified, the lexical relational operators behave like the standard relational operators.

If you use a lexical operator to compare strings in an expression (such as in a BRANCH step or in a pipeline link), Integration Server treats the lexical operators as if they were standard relational operators.

If you use a lexical operator to compare a value that is not a string with another string value, Integration Server treats the non-string value as an empty string (that is, ""). For example, in the expression (%myInt% L_EQUALS ""), the %myInt%variable is declared to be of type integer. This expression always evaluates to true because %myInt% contains an integer value that Integration Server treats as an empty string ("") when it evaluates the expression.

If you use a lexical operator to compare numbers in fields of type String, Integration Server treats the numbers as strings.

Filters that use lexical relational operators to compare string values will be saved with the trigger subscription on the Broker. Filters that use standard relational operators to compare string values will not be saved on the Broker.

When you view filters on My webMethods, a lexical operator appears as its equivalent standard operator. For example, the expression %myString% L_EQUALS "abc" appears as myString=="abc".